What comes to mind when I say education?
Is it a public school classroom, filled with multicultural adolescents dutifully sitting through lessons whilst patiently waiting for their next free period?
Maybe a one- room classroom with a dirt floor, and students of all ages in ragged uniforms sitting on rough- hewn wooden chairs balancing stone tablets on their knees.
Perhaps it’s a large brick Ivy League university, with bright eyed young adults running frantically between classes.
Education means something different to everyone. When you ask a European socialite, their answer will most likely be dissimilar to that of a member of a small African tribe, which will be different to that of a child of working- class Australians.
For me, having grown up in the United States in a middle class family, and having attended public schools until around junior high, education would bring to mind a picture similar to the first that I described above. For me, it’s shag linoleum floors, plastic- alloy desk chairs, and black and white marbled workbooks.
I have experienced what some parts of the world consider a very privileged educational career. When I moved to Colombia and started attending my current school, I began an educational career which most would consider privileged. So all in all, I am very fortunate, especially in the calibre of my educational experience. A lot of people however, throughout the world, have nothing like my or my classmates’ experience with schooling.
Even though the people I go to school with tend to come from wealthy backgrounds, I was pleasantly surprised with all of their understanding of what life is really like for most people in Colombia.
Another Colombian school, in Chocó. Not so wealthy.
It was great to hear what everyone in my class thought about how necessary (or unnecessary) formal schooling is. And to hear the professor (whom I can safely assume is from the UK ) tell us about his own experience teaching in a poor school really put into perspective for me how poverty and lack of education doesn’t only exist in third world countries.
What I eventually gathered was that really it depended not only on a person's willpower, but their environment and the people around them that determines how they see education. While some people settle or just don't try at all, others push themselves hard to try and get to the top, no matter where their starting point.
My family and close friends can attest to the fact that I like to argue with people, for nothing if just to hear what they think truly think about a topic. Even though I’ve only had two Global Perspectives classes, I have a feeling it will be my favourite. Looking forward to the rest of the year!
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